Seven Stories That Defined The Season

As the dust settles on the 2008/09 Premiership season (and collectively we all ponder what exactly we will do with our Saturday afternoons for the next few months) I’m going to reminisce about the seven stories that, for me, have been most memorable.

1. Newcastle aren’t too big to go down.

After beating Middlesborough with a couple of games left, Newcastle were safe. That was, of course, until back-to-back defeats against Fulham and Villa meant they weren’t. It’s hard to know exactly where to place the blame because, in truth, the options are endless. Mike Ashley? Kevin Keegan? Joe Kinnear? Alan Shearer? The players? Let’s be honest, they all had a part to play in Newcastle’s demise this season. The continued mismanagement at the club should offer a stern warning to plenty of other premiership clubs: nobody is too big to go down. I don’t know if it was just me, but I never truly believed they would be relegated. At the same time, however, I’m not overly sure why exactly I refused to believe it. I think it is fair to say that any club that has four managers in the one season, has no managers. The postmortem will begin in earnest now, and tough decisions need to be made by many, but Newcastle being relegated from the Premiership is big news and, for some, will be what this season will be remembered for. If I may digress momentarily, the Toon Army should also ask themselves if they weren’t so quick to write off Big Sam and his style of football the previous season, would they be a Championship side or a Premiership side? I know what my answer is, but as we’re focusing on the 08/09 season we won’t delve any further into that topic!

2. Liverpool are close

For years now, we’ve heard rumblings from Merseyside that the red half would be happy as long they were not out of the title race by December. Well this season they got their wish. Pushing United all the way to the second last day of the season should be seen as an achievement in itself for Benitez and the Liverpool fans. On February 28th it very much looked as if their title challenge was all but over after a 2-0 drubbing by relegation eventuals Boro, but a pair of sizzling performances against Real and subsequently at Old Trafford completely rejuvinated both their belief and their challenge. From there on in it was tough to criticise Liverpool as they romped the likes of Villa, Blackburn, and West Ham. Ultimately United had just enough in the tank. The positives are unquestionably there though and by finding more consistency against the lesser teams next season at Anfield they may well push even that little bit harder. There will be new challenges too, however, and Benitez may just be judged on who he signs this summer and how effectively they can contribute not so much to the first eleven, but to the squad in its entirety. For now though, Liverpool deserve credit for picking themselves up for the final quarter of the season and for pushing United all the way, and that’s a fact!

3. The attractive versus ugly debate

No, I’m not talking about a Saturday night on the town after a few beers. West Brom were promoted last season and Tony Mowbray vowed he wouldn’t abandon his footballing mentality and promised they would actually play football, and look to pass rather than hoof. He was true to his word, but ultimately it may be precisely that mentality that cost the Baggies. Attractive to watch, for certain, but it raises the question of whether their fans prefer to watch attractive football in the Championship or ugly football in the Premiership. I’m not actually saying for one second that West Brom fans should be, or even would be, happier with the alternative but the argument is there and up for debate. At the other end of the spectrum, Stoke unashamedly won while playing as ugly as a Joe Kinnear press conference. Route one football and utilising the long throw capabilities of Rory Delap account for a sizable number of points collected during the season and much credit should be given to Tony Pulis for playing to their strengths. They may not have won too many friends for their old-fashioned approach but I would be willing to bet my salary that Pulis has not lost a wink of sleep thinking about that. Neither, I can safely assume, will chairman Peter Coates when he looks at the bank balance.

4. You can’t win with kids

Oh no, that old adage again! As he uttered the very words back in August of 1995 after watching United being pummeled at Villa Park, Alan Hansen must have immediately regretted it. If he didn’t then, he certainly did in May. To be fair to Hansen, that United team was still speckled with experienced players such as Schmeichel, Pallister, Bruce, Irwin, Cantona, and of course Roy Keane. When you look at Arsenal this season, there doesn’t seem to be the same evidence of experience spread throughout the team. Certainly the presence of Silvestre, Gallas, Almunia, and Toure helps, but not to the extent that United were in 95/96. Arsene Wenger, time and time again, put his faith in the kids of the club, but other than a capitulation from Villa in the latter stages of the season, Arsenal may have paid the ultimate price and unthinkably finished outside the Champion’s League places. They didn’t though. Wenger deserves credit for not being afraid to blood youngsters into the first team but there has to be a balance. A club of Arsenal’s stature should not even contemplate not competing in the Champion’s League but that may well have been the case this season. So to conclude, after 13 years of villification, Alan Hansen may just have been proved right this year.

5. Carlito’s way and title number eighteen

After two eventful seasons at Old Trafford, Carlos Tevez will be remembered for speaking publicly about his future at United on numerous occasions, to members of the press in both England and his native Argentina. United fans spent the last couple of months of the season continually singing “Fergie Sign Him Up” and made their feelings openly known to the little Argentinian. Whether it was a strategic move by Tevez to pressure United into making an acceptable bid for him, or whether he was speaking from the heart, his dealings with the media created a real story that ran through much of the second half of the season. He certainly did his best to back up his talk with two vital goals agaist Man City and Wigan, which only further ignited calls from the Stretford End to make his loan deal permanent. No doubt observers across Manchester and Merseyside will follow this story with great interest over the coming weeks. This season also marked a landmark for Manchester United as they collected title number eighteen and equalled Liverpool’s record. A remarkable achievement considering United were eleven behind when Sir Alex Ferguson took up the reins way back when perms and shoulder pads were still in style. United showed fantastic resolve and had to rely on late goals against Villa, Sunderland, and Wigan, but they played like champions and kept going until the last minute of every game and got their reward.

6. ‘Arry will fix it

After possbily the worst start to a season by any team in any league in any country in any continent in the history of football… Juande Ramos was sent packing and, in the blink of an eye, ‘Arry was the new Spurs manager. God help any football fan who decided to have a sleep in on Sunday morning on the 26th of October and lazily got of bed to watch Spurs take on Bolton, only to see the popular cockney sitting in the Spurs dugout. Seriously though, I’ve taken longer to eat dinner than it took for Ramos to be sacked and Redknapp to be appointed. All credit to the man though, he completely rejuvanated Spurs and fears of a relegation scrap were allayed. Instead, shrewd signings, or in this case re-signings, transformed Spurs’s season and Harry Redknapp finally got the “big job” he craved for so long. It will be interesting to see how Spurs fare next season but for now, the Redknapp Revolution remains a highlight of the season.

7. Fulham and Roy Hodgson

It would be remiss of me to finish this article without giving a special mention to Fulham FC and in particular Roy Hodgson. After avoiding relegation by the narrowest of margins the preceding season, many thought Fulham would struggle badly this season. How wrong they (we!) were. Defensively, particularly at home, Fulham were outstanding and at times impenetrable, which in its turn laid the foundations for a great season. Hodgson also displayed his experience in the transfer market and bought shrewdly, which allowed him several differing attacking options and in effect allowed them to be unpredictable to defend against. Having qualified for the new look Europa Cup, there will be plenty of challenges ahead for The Cottagers but as things stand, it’s hard to think of anybody more suitable to deal with them than the current boss.

So there you have it, an entire season distilled into seven paragraphs. Of course there are some stories that have been omitted but these, for me, are the ones that stood out. In a sense, fans wanted for nothing this year. A title race that went right to the wire, a relegation battle that did likewise, more managerial changes than we knew what to do with, and of course plenty of tantrums that kept us all amused. Perfect. Thank God we have less than 90 days until next season…